Behind "Brave"

Matthew and I have been loving God and serving in ministry for the past 7 years. Walking with God isn't "easy". Ministry isn't always "easy"...but it's what we LOVE. More than that, it's my grateful heart that prompts me to serve Him. Life without Him wasn't and isn't "easy",  it's also hopeless. 

About 1 year ago, God was calling us to make shifts. Shifts...mean change. Change implies different...and different is sometimes not what we like, simply because it's different.

As God stirred our hearts, Matt and I were excited, anxious, but excited. Anxious for the unknowns but excited for what God would have for us. We said YES to God and THAT, was THE easiest thing. We knew that change would feel odd. It would probably mean change in the ministries we had been doing for years, it would probably mean that people would have something to say, it would probably mean, some wouldn't believe in us. 

What came after, we were not prepared for. Needless to say, the devil was NOT happy. He used whatever and whoever he could to discourage us, put doubt in us and take our joy away...and it worked! For a period of time, we felt like we were all we had and sometimes we were so down that we even tested each other. 

We saw all the things, and people the enemy was using and that was adding fuel. When we hit the lowest we felt, the lowest in ministry, the lowest since surrendering to Him...He shook us. He shook us hard to the point where we had no where else to look but to Him. In being consumed and hurt and looking at all that was against us, we  didn't look at the one that without a doubt, was and is FOR US and with us (Deuteronomy 31:6). 

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6 

Through this time I had been listening to the You Make Me Brave album by Bethel Music  that I had bought when it was just released. I don't think I switched that bad boy in my car until about one month ago. The song, You Make Me Brave by Amanda Cook, was the first to minister to my heart...not knowing God would use that song to confirm, challenge and align me. 

I began getting into His word and learn about what it meant to be BRAVE. See, saying YES to God IS THE easiest part. It's what and HOW you do it after that has substance. Saying yes isn't necessarily brave unless you act on it. Brave are people like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who not only said YES to God but said NO to whatever stood in the way of that commitment. Then, they not only said Yes, but they said YES, even if it hurt, even if it meant it would cost them everything. They said YES even when no else did. 

God will call us out into deeper waters. God will call you to be brave. You can say yes, and stay on the shore and only see as far as your eyes can OR you can say yes, be brave, not because YOU are but because He makes you brave AND see all the HE has for you. I guarantee it's far more than what you imagine. He is not only able, He WANTS TO use you (Ephesians 3:20) and he wants to blow you away! God is so good, He not only calls us into deeper waters, He is with us IN the deep waters.  It might cost you, it will cost you...but that's what being brave is all about. 

Live bravely! 

xoxo,

Ana